


Broken World

by JohnWork



Category: Original Work
Genre: I don't know what Tags I should use, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:20:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26548885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnWork/pseuds/JohnWork
Summary: Humanity encounters Alien life. While the politicians are trying to form relationships with the extraterrestrial governments, a man convinced that he hears the voices of the gods and his group of human supremacists have their own agenda.Later chapters include violence. I have no frame of reference for whether or not its degree is considered graphic.Feedback is appreciated. That explicitly includes negative feedback, though I would ask you keep it constructive or at least polite.





	Broken World

**Historical Account of Ilfeq, Crewman of the Xlnfrag in charge of integrating the human soldiers into the ship and crew**

I was brought on that vessel as a problem solver. When members of the crew had a disagreement, I would be called upon to calm them down. It was that simple. I was good at it. In eight cycles, there have only been seventeen fights that escalated before I could calm them down. Considering our crew consisted of some eight thousand individuals, I would call that a job well done. I am, of course, not saying that to impress anyone. Rather I tell you about my success so you understand how sure of my abilities I was. Perhaps, that will explain my failures.

It was a decade after we had made contact with the humans. Their world was primitive, but you will have learned that in school. They had a feudal system in place: There was a central administration, but it was weak, with little to no control over the different countries. Membership wasn't even mandatory, and armed conflicts between members were frequent. In spite of their political underdevelopment, the humans had evidently managed to send several of their own to space (to be precise: to their moon), so they had legally reached contact level.

The diplomats that reached out to them were shocked. The human race was, evolutionary speaking, in its early phases. Out of the eight sapient species, they were the only one that had a set lifespan. They hadn't even made the effort to know the depths of their own oceans before they had shot their first vessels into space.

I'm sorry. It is unnecessary for me to tell you all of this. What I really want to talk about is how the downfall of the Xlnfrag came to pass.

As a joint mission of the militaries of three of their countries, some two thousand humans had been granted access to our ship. We, ourselves, welcomed the opportunity. Obviously, the human race was young and foolish compared to ours, so we would gladly teach them and welcome them into the confederacy once they had proven themselves worthy. For this, admittedly experimental, mission to work, the command over the humans was given to a Captain Darling. The translators tell me his name is something they call a spouse, so the humans would make jokes occasionally. The Item'qar, on the other hand, were under the command of General Huylrq. The ship, however, was commanded by Captain Ishiim, and obviously everyone had to obey his orders. You see, the situation was weird. Really weird. And I was given the task of negotiating in conflicts on the ship as I had always been, only now that included conflicts between humans and conflicts between humans and Item'qar.

You will have noticed two ways in which the Terrans are different from us: They have mates, and they mock their superiors. For me, too, these things caused some confusion, but the humans seem to get by rather formidably in spite of them.

Enough of this nonsense. Let me tell you about how this great ship, the Xlnfrag, came to be doomed:

We were all really excited. No one aboard had ever seen a human, at least not in person. Sure, there were pictures and visuals, but the real thing is completely different, I assure you. So it came to pass that everyone who didn't absolutely have to be on post was assembled in the ships inner doc, where the ferry would release its cargo of humans.

The ramp lowered down. And then we heard them. They marched in near perfect rhythm, creating a sound so haunting, we ended up recording it later in order to use it to destabilize enemy morale. There were three groups, one large one with about half the humans, and two smaller ones with some six hundred and four hundred respectively. I assumed that they were marching according to their nationality, and later I was told that I assumed correctly. One of them yelled something, the translator interpreted it as “Careful [65%]”, and they all raised their right hands to their heads in perfect unison. Then, after another command, one of the humans left rank. He walked towards us and spoke, and by the prophets in the sky, I tell you, he spoke Qar! He had a rather strong accent, of course, but it was very much comprehensible.

“Which of you are Captain Ishiim and General Huylrq?”, he asked. The two of them, caught by surprise, took a moment to react, but then stepped forward. The human, I say “he”, by the way, as I was later informed that this one was male, raised his hand to his head in a swift motion once more and said:

“Superior warriors,” (he even knew how to address them) “I bring you greetings from the leaders of the United States of  _ America  _ and the  _ Francaise  _ Republic, as well as as the leader and the high scribe of the Federal Republic of  _ Deutschland _ .” He said the countries' names in Terran dialects, apparently. “All four of them apologise for not being able to attend this event in person, but they hope that you will take comfort knowing that Captain Darling is a warrior carrying many signs of honour, and that he is a most suitable representative for this purpose.”

Then he waited, his hand at his head, staring at nothing. A mindless drone, I thought, awaiting a reaction. The captain and the general were a bit confused. After all, our species had done away with such procedures centuries ago. But then again, we hadn't encountered a new species in centuries either. The general, taking charge of the situation, spoke first. “We thank your leaders and scribes for their greetings and ask you to send them our expression of friendship”, he repeated an ancient line that used to be said on occasions like this. The Captain joined in: “As commander of this vessel, I welcome you and yours aboard.” The human nodded, turned around on the spot and yelled something in a language the translators couldn't interpret. And all of a sudden, other humans started yelling. I saw many Item'qar move their hands towards their guns. Feudal people could attack at any moment, after all. The human walked away, and three other humans took his place. One of them was different from the others. His flesh was much darker. One was a female, apparently, as you could tell from the concealed mammaries she had under her clothes. The third one spoke, and the translators played it back to us in Item'qar. Greetings were exchanged, but nothing interesting came out of this conversation. They all expressed their mutual respect and hope for good cooperation. He asked about the quarters. And that, basically, was it. After another order, the humans just walked away, no longer in unison but casually, like they had been exchanged for people with independent minds.

Even back then, something about that bugged me. There was this slight feeling like something was deeply, deeply wrong. Those people, especially the one that spoke Qar (though probably just because I saw him up close), they had been like machines when they marched in. It wasn't anything that would have required to suppress any emotions, just an exchange of greetings. Yet they had stood there like statues, with their eyes completely cold. I didn't know, and I still don't, if they were all like this or if it was just their warriors, but I remember thinking that they must be capable of enormous cruelties in their duty.

But I banished those thoughts from my mind. I had my orders. It wasn't my place or duty to worry about such things. That's what the Thinkers are for. Were for. Now, of course, there are no more Thinkers.

So the next day, I went to do my job. The humans had slept, apparently the flight had been long and not offered the comfort they required for proper rest, so now they were perfectly relaxed and, it seemed, eager to work with us.

I will say: for all the negative experiences I, and so many others, have made with humans, I cannot and will not deny that they have the greatest work morale amongst the Eight Sapients, excluding us of course. But for a species of mammals to be this willing to labour, that was just unheard of. We all know how... laid back the Sherim and Tarifel are. But the humans, they jumped at any opportunity to help us out. The precise duties they would have to fulfil on a regular basis were still being worked out (the schedules had to be adapted to their longer day cycle, and we were not fully aware of how capable they would be in critical positions), and it was my task for the day to talk to their leading warriors in order to establish what special abilities they could bring to the table, but also to listen to any complaints they might have had concerning the ship or crew. Preventive de-escalation, if you will. I couldn't find the warrior Darling at his cabin, so I asked one of the drones – sorry, I mean human soldiers – for his whereabouts. This one was female, too. I could see her mammaries. She didn't wear the full uniform, I think she was on break, so it was very obvious. The human pointed me in a direction, saying “no idea if he's actually there, but Captain Grenouille is in that direction, seventh door to the right. If he doesn't know where Darling is, you can probably just talk to him, he's his second-in-command on this mission.” I thanked her, but just as I wanted to leave, she bared her teeth at me! I jumped backwards, almost hitting a wall, and reached for my gun. Of course I did. Everyone knows that this is how mammals signal that they are about to eat you!

Let me be clear, I still think that it was a reasonable reaction. I wasn't going to shoot her, of course, I simply meant to signal that I am capable of killing her and that she should find something else to eat. Nonetheless, I am a bit embarrassed that the first conflict between our two species on board the ship was almost caused by me waving a gun in a human's face. She was, to say the least, shocked at my reaction, but after some yelling from both sides, it became apparent that she meant no harm. It seems humans bare their teeth in order to show happiness or friendly intentions. How any species could ever think  _ Look at my instruments of murder which are used to tear flesh apart _ could be a friendly gesture is honestly beyond me. I took it as a sign that the human race took joy in warfare and killing. Not a bad trait for warriors to have, of course, but I couldn't stop wondering how this would affect discipline. Perhaps that was why they had seemed so mindless, drone-like the day before. If they don't suppress all emotions, they turn into killing machines.

I found the human called Grenouille. I immediately liked him more than the female. He lacked mammaries. Most of the humans on board did, actually. But that wasn't the reason. He had dark flesh, and I soon learned that he was the same man that had been there the day before, one of the three commanding officers that took the place of the one who spoke Qar. The complexion of his skin was much closer to the pitch black of our exoskeleton, so I suppose I just naturally felt closer to him. He, too, bared his teeth at me. This time, I remained calm.

“I heard you and Private Jenkins shout at each other. The translator didn't catch everything you said, but something about an attack?”

“A misunderstanding on my part. That thing you do,  _ smile _ , it looked threatening.”

His teeth parted, and he made some sort of a barking sound. This, I had expected. I had been informed that their laughter was of a less sophisticated nature, especially amongst the warriors.

“You will have to forgive, Crewman Ilfeq. Your entire species looks threatening to us, and I'm sure you don't think that way about yourselves.”

“Naturally. As I said, it was my fault. But tell me, Captain: If you heard us shout, why did you not come to intervene?”, I asked.

“Eh” he made a motion with his right appendage, as if he lazily smacked a swamp fly. “I was sure you'd sort it out amongst yourselves.”

This came as a bit of a surprise, but I didn't bother asking. The curious change between lax and strict discipline would be something I would need to get used to.

“I wanted to talk to Captain Darling. It is for the assessment of the humans, in order to distribute them to the stations were they would be most efficient.”

“Ah yes. I'm sorry. The captain is currently unavailable. There was a fight between some German and American soldiers over some sports event. He and Captain Graupe had to calm it down. Graupe is the one responsible for the Germans, by the way. Me, I deal with the French folks around. Until the Captain's back, I could give you an assessment of my men and women, if you want.”

I thanked him, and we began our planning. After a short time, Captain Darling came into the room and apologized for being late. Once he realized we were already talking about the assessment of the French, he simply put a data device on the table and told his deputy to take care of the Americans and Germans, too.

I liked Grenouille, even then. He was the only human I ever felt connected to, though that friendship only developed later and is not supposed to be the subject of this recording. I named my youngest hatchling after him, actually. I was told that's what humans do when a friend dies.

**Elizabeth Birch, American Soldier**

The Item'qar were scary. She had to admit it, they just were. They were smaller than the average human, even than the average human woman, but even so, they were still five feet of chitin and claws and whatever these weird things around their mouths were called. They had antennae, too. Long, like wires, and moving as if they were separate beings entirely, seemingly independent from the creatures whose heads they sat on.

And they were naked, aside from belts for weaponry or tools. She couldn't see any genitals (not that she had been trying to find any, rather it was nearly impossible not to look), so maybe they just never had developed a feeling of shame, but it made her really uncomfortable. She didn't say anything though. She had heard from Susan Jenkins that one of the bugs had completely freaked out the day before because she had smiled at him and he had thought she was baring her teeth. Actually, had that alien been male? Were there any female aliens on board?

_ Until I can figure it out, I suppose I'll have to use “they” _ , she thought.  _ Maybe I'll ask one of them _ . That would be so rude though. Oh god, she hoped it would be easier than that. Just, please,  _ someone _ ask in her stead.

She cleared her head. The schedules were still being worked on, but they were expected to be distributed in about an hour. She left her cabin, walking aimlessly through the human quarters. She really just wanted to get rid of her unease, that slight, annoying itch at the back of her mind like there was some kind of imminent danger. She'd had it ever since they came on board. Well, not immediately. Only after the first night of sleep. Maybe it was the artificial gravity. Or something to do with hyperspace. Apparently, they had transferred there while the humans had slept. There had been humans in hyperspace before, diplomats mostly, and they had reported that Item'qar and the other sapient species felt an inexplicable fear that started very lightly but grew stronger the longer they stayed in there. The humans seemed to have been immune though. Maybe she was an exception? Or maybe it was just-

“Hey. Are you lost? Or looking for someone?”

Abruptly, her mind returned to the present moment. In front of her stood a young man, some twenty-five years old. He was about five feet nine tall, with hair of a dirty blonde. It was short, of course, since he was a soldier like everyone else on board. He gave her a friendly smile. “Everything okay?”, he asked with a light German accent. She saw the black-red-and-gold on his uniform, confirming that she had wandered off into the German area.

“Yes, yes, sorry. I just wanted to stretch my legs.”

He laughed and pointed behind himself with a thumb. “Yeah, some of the others do as well. Let me guess: You woke up this morning and felt haunted. You didn't know what it was, so you just walked and walked and mostly concentrated on walking?”

“Yeah”. She smiled. He wasn't a handsome man, but his smile was so happy you could drown in it. She wondered what it would be like when he was really thrilled about something.

“You wanna visit the doc? She's around the corner. Could probably give you something.”

“Thanks, but I think I have to visit the American medic. Protocol and stuff.”

“She  _ is _ the American medic. Ours had an accident shortly before the launch, so we couldn't replace him in time. Gimme a moment”, he said turning around and yelled “JOAN! There's a colonist here, I think she has the same symptoms as the others.”

“A colonist?”, asked Elizabeth. Again, he laughed. It was an honest laughter, the kind you didn't hear a lot those days: He wasn't sucking up to a superior officer or trying to make her trust him or anything of the sort. He just really seemed to like to laugh, to be happy, no hidden motives, no strategy.

“Yeah, we like to call you people that. Makes us feel superior, I suppose. Like we're the motherland and you're the colonies and the likes. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, but you know how people are.” he shrugged, still smiling.

“Especially doesn't make sense since America was a British colony”, she reminded him.

“Ah, that's true, but do tell, who exactly is ruling England these days?”

Now it was her turn to laugh. “Fair enough”, she said. “So you're gonna stop calling us that once the occupation is over?”

“We'll see.”

A woman came around the corner. She was tall, pale, red-haired and didn't wear a uniform. The doctor, without a doubt. She looked tired, she had probably been kept up or at least someone had woken her up early. Nonetheless, she flashed a smile as she saw Elizabeth and the German and headed towards them.

“Hi”, she said, reaching out a hand for Elizabeth to shake. “I'm Joan Blackwater. Daniel tells me you have the symptoms? Like something is following you wherever you go, an itch at the back of your mind, that sort of thing?” she looked at the man in a disapproving manner as Elizabeth shook her hand, “And for some reason he felt the need to inform the entire ship, too.”

Daniel raised his hands defensively. “She was gonna leave, Joan. What did you want me to do? You said it was important that everyone with the symptoms got treated.”   
“Just tell me about it and I find them myself”

“But I don't even- oh that reminds me.” He, too, offered her a handshake. She took it. “I'm Daniel.”

“Elizabeth Birch. It's a pleasure”

“Ah, I'm sure it is. I'm such a fun person to be around, after all. Right, Joan?” he said and poked the doctor in the side of her head.

“Piss off”.

He laughed, but stopped poking her. “I'm gonna check with Graupe if the schedules are ready, all right? See ya.” He gave an exaggerated wave as he walked off.

For a few seconds, Elizabeth just stood there, letting the Doctor look at her pupils and feeling her temperature. Then she asked “so is he actually nice or an asshole pretending to be nice?”

“Oh, Daniel is alright. We met during the British war. He saved my life a few days after we first met, and we've been in contact ever since. He likes to make fun of people, but he knows the limits. Tell him to stop and he will. You don't want to fight him, though. Once you're his enemy, you're done. Take these pills. There's three of them, the first now, the second after four hours, the third after another eight. If the symptoms don't disappear, come to see me. I'm on deck eight, cabin five-one-six.”

“Thanks. I kinda feel like I saw him before though.”

“You were standing pretty far in the back yesterday, I assume? He went to greet the Item'qar in their language.”

“That's it! By the way, have many people been having these symptoms? I mean, I know there's others, but is it frequent?”

“So far, there have been sixteen cases amongst the Germans and thirty-four amongst the Americans, yourself included. I don't know about the French, but I told Doctor Étoile that it happened with us, so I assume she went and told her people to get themselves checked if they have any anxieties. I filed a request for Darling and Graupe to make it an order to go see me or one of my assistants for any symptoms, just to be sure. The way hyperspace affects the human mind is not exactly a well researched field of study. The diplomats never complained, so we just thought we were immune.”

“It's not dangerous, is it? Like, Am I gonna start hearing voices and scratching peoples eyes out out something?”

“Probably not within the next twenty-four hours, provided you take your medication as I prescribed and come back for more if the symptoms don't disappear. I'd be careful though, adrenalin can cause it to grow so strong you actually go haywire. At least we think, Sergeant Meißner bit of his own fingers after his bunkmate played a prank on him.”

Immediately, adrenalin started pumping through her veins. “Oh shit I-” she sighed. “You're joking, aren't you?”

The other woman laughed. “For real though, don't drink anything alcoholic for a few days, and keep your sugar consumption to the necessary minimum. No fruit, no juices. For a few weeks.”

“What's the sugar got to do with my mind?”

“Nothing. But my predecessor asked me to read your file. He said you were a vegetarian, and that's fine, it's a healthy way to live as long as you eat enough soy for the protein. Or any other vegetable, really. But you seem to like to replace meat with fruit. You're getting too much sugar. No fruit for a few weeks, and after that, you'll have to ration it pretty strictly. For at least a year. Ideally, forever.” Her beeper rang. She took a quick look at it and said “I'm needed two decks above. Will you find your way back?”

Elizabeth nodded, turned and walked back to the American quarters. Two minutes later, her ArmyCom gave a signal. The Schedule was done. Her first shift was in forty-five minutes.

  
  


**Chx, Crewman of the Xlnfrag, Xenobiologist and Medic**

The humans were beautiful. He was very well aware that there weren't many of his colleagues, or even many of his fellow Item'qar, who thought so, but by the prophets in the sky, these creatures were marvellous. Biological miracles, in his opinion. Chx just hoped he would be allowed to dissect some of them over the course of this trip. The fact that the human in question would have to die first didn't bother him. The joint mission was of an exploratory nature and would take about one and a half years. The humans lived short lives and died early. Surely a dozen or so would give in to their old age during the journey, and he'd be there to cut them open and learn. Even if they wouldn't die due to their short lives, there was a good chance that some of them would fall victim to disease or some danger on the planets they were to explore.

That thought was less pleasant. Chx considered himself a person with a realistic view on the universe, and as such he did not think of death due to one's natural limitations as a cause for grief. Nonetheless, to be taken while you could have lived on was terrible, even if it was just primates. Primates! Who had shed their fur almost entirely, safe some leftovers on the head and some traces on the limbs, apparently. Who had managed to create things of beauty, art, machines, architecture... That, certainly, was part of their beauty. Physically, of course, they were completely hideous. But what they represented…

_ Maybe the captain will allow me to eat a human brain _ , he thought. Of course he would wait until the human had died of natural causes. Or unnatural ones, sure, but he wouldn't cause them. He was a highly respected Thinker for his age and he was certainly not going to kill a human just to eat their brain. But prophets! How he would love to learn more about them. He was fully aware that eating a human's brain wouldn't actually give him knowledge of their species. It was more the symbolic act. Making their knowledge, their very being, part of himself. An ancient tradition amongst the Thinkers.

_ I suppose I don't have to wait until they're dead to learn. I can talk to them. The translators supposedly interpret two of the three languages the humans on board speak. I'm sure I'll have an opportunity _ . There'd have to be some precautions, though. Obviously you couldn't just talk to these primitives. Their understanding of morals was flimsy at best, and their intelligence was far below that of even the average Item'qar, that much had been established. Compared to a Thinker such as himself, they'd be like children.

The interface hanging on a string from his neck gave a signal. A quick glance told him that the schedule had been updated to include the human members of the crew. Why would they send  _ him _ , of all people, a message about this? The humans couldn't possibly have a great understanding of alien biology, nor of Item'qar biology, so they would be no help in any way to him. Granted, they were alien life themselves, making them subjects of the field of xenobiology, but why would that have any influence on his schedule? Confused, but also curious, he opened the file.

“Let's see... no, that can't be right.”, he murmured, barely audible. “There must be some kind of a mistake...” He checked it again. And once more. He sent a message to command, asking to correct his schedule. They responded shortly after. “There is no mistake.”

He snarled in anger.  _ Working with a human! The insult! What's next, making a surgeon work with the tumour? Who would even consider pairing one of those barbarians with someone like me? _ With effort, he managed to calm himself down. If the higher-ups had decided it, there was nothing he could do about it. At least he'd have some time to prepare. The human would only come the next day, so he could think about what to give him to do.

Him.  _ They have genders, don't they? Of course they do, what did I expect? They are so early in their evolution you can barely consider them people, naturally they have genders.  _ As a mono-gendered species, the Item'qar reproduced asexually. Yet, they did have a word they used for other species' females and males. The males were called the same as the Item'qar who were not currently raising a hatchling, whereas the females were addressed as if they were. He looked at the interface once more. The human was a female. A healer, and a scientist.  _ Joan Blackwater _ . The name probably had some meaning in the female's language, but to him, it was gibberish.  _ I hope the translators don't fail, _ he thought. As far as he was informed, the human male that had spoken to the Captain and the general the day before was the only one on board who knew Qar, possibly the only one of his species. Chx wondered how he had learned it.

The humans would be a challenge. He adored them as a scientist, sure. Their biology and evolutionary history were as unique as that of any other of the sapient species, and he did respect them to a certain amount for the achievements they had made. It could not be denied that the human race had discovered space flight at an earlier stage than any of the other seven races. If they had had another thousand years or so, they would probably have discovered how to enter hyperspace on their own. Technically, they still could do that: The Confederacy merely let them be passengers on its ships. The humans did not have any FTL technology of their own.

But even if he admired the beauty of the species as a whole, the grace of how these mammals had managed to rise above the other creatures on their planet, each individual human he had so far seen or even talked to had been a disaster. Like all mammals, they emitted an appalling stench. They ate too much because they had to keep their bodies' temperatures up, and they were loud. Chx acknowledged that they were clearly above the standards of intelligence required to be considered sapient. Otherwise, they wouldn't even have discovered that their sun did, in fact, not revolve around their world. Nonetheless, he simply couldn't imagine that any of them would be able to understand the entirety of his work. Sure, the smart ones would understand much, possibly most, but in the end, they wouldn't be capable of more than assisting him with meaningless tasks. Certainly their raw physical strength and their talent for fighting, typical for primates, would be far more useful in other fields of work. Less sophisticated ones.

He thought about what to give the human female to do the next day. She would slow him down, but that was hardly her fault. Rather it was the Leaders fault, who had agreed to giving the human scientists access to everything they needed to know to be functioning members of the crew, and later on of the confederacy. Thus, he would have to take care not to insult her by making her only do manual labour. He had no doubt that she was considered very intelligent amongst her own, and it was not her fault that she had been born into such a... limited species. Over time, she would probably acknowledge that her talents were wasted when working with an Item'qar.

_ If I at least knew what human scientists consider acceptable work, I could find something she could actually manage. Maybe I could test her. Have her run some experiments and calculations I have already run, and see what she gets as results, and how she would proceed from there. Who knows, maybe she comes up with something useful. I shouldn't just reject the possibility that she can do the same work I do either, even if it will take her longer. Be open minded, Chx. _

In the end, he decided to have her take a look at a possible anti-virus for a disease that usually spread in the winter amongst the Item'qar. He had already found it to be useless, and he was working on another solution right now, but as a test, it was probably suitable. Yes, that would be good. Once she failed, he'd be able to give her easier, more trivial tasks, not having offended her in the process. And of course she deserved a fair chance. The anger he had felt just a few minutes ago seemed stupid now. Of course they didn't mean to insult him. The Leaders were, just like himself, not certain what human brains were actually capable of.

He opened a menu on his interface. “Call Asilish”, he said.

Asilish was a friend of his. A fellow Thinker, though of lower quality than himself. But undoubtedly a great mind, nonetheless. He was one of the first Thinkers who made the study of humans, their behaviour, their culture, their history, his primary field of research. They had been very close ever since they had met thirty years ago.

“Chx” The face of the other Thinker appeared on the device's screen. Like all Thinkers, both Asilish and Chx were green. The former was darker, though, hinting at his less pure ancestry. Chx, on the other hand, was bright, putting him closer to the yellow of the leaders in colour.

“Asilish. I hope I didn't wake you up.” The other Item'qar had to adapt his cycle to that of the humans in order to properly study them. It wasn't impossible, but it was harsh. His eyes showed the first symptoms of sleep deprivation.

“Prophets, I wish you had. At least that would mean I would have gotten some sleep before. The humans have been awake for hours, and so have I. What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to ask your advice on something. Command has paired me with a human from tomorrow on, a scientist by the name of Joan Blackwater. A female, I think.”

“I have heard of Joan Blackwater. She enjoys a lot of respect amongst the superior warriors of the humans. She seems to be a renowned scientist. What did you want my advice for?”

Chx hesitated. “Are you informed on my current research?”

“I always read the copies of your reports you send me. Well, not in the last few days. I have been a bit busy. Trying to find a cure for the current strain of Gul'qna, am I right?

“Yes. See, my problem is that I don't know how capable this human will be. So I thought I'd test her. I'd give her a problem to solve that I already concluded is unsolvable. Once she gives up, I'd give her tasks more suitable for a mammal.”

“ _ If _ she gives up. Also, I recommend not treating her as you would a Worker. She is the humans' equivalent of a Thinker, and as such she deserves the same respect as you and I do, even if she fails the test. Which, by the way, I think is a good idea to assess her intelligence. I would like you to keep me updated on this. But I don't think she's been assigned to you as an assistant, or even a colleague. She is a medic, and I think she will have to learn about our biology from you so she can treat the sick and those wounded in battle.”

Chx laughed. “Of course. I am a fool. I didn't even think of that.”

Asilish joined him in laughing, though he did so less loudly. “Let me guess, you felt insulted. You have never been fond of mammals.”

“If they didn't stink so much, it wouldn't even be a problem.”

“Sure. And if they didn't eat so much. Or sleep so much. Or if they weren't quite as loud.”

“Are you calling me a xenophobe?”

“I think, my friend, that you are very sure of our species' superiority. It is not a baseless belief, but I must warn you: The humans  _ are _ sapient. Don't underestimate them.”

Chx' antennae moved with uncertainty. “How smart could she possibly be? How old is she, ten?”

“More like twenty, I think. The humans don't consider their young to be grown until they are twelve years old. Our years, of course. And they learn surprisingly fast. One more thing: If she bares her teeth at you, don't freak out. They consider that a friendly gesture.”

“Funny. Very funny.”

“No, I'm serious.”

“Sure. Get some sleep, Asilish.”

The other Thinker laughed desperately. “They have three quarters of a day to go before they fall asleep. I just hope I can work something out before I go insane.”


End file.
